Page 53 of A Chance in a Million
Jane watched as they disappeared down the drive before addressing the tall man. ‘Hi, there. Thanks for coming to see me. I hope I’m not dragging you away from anything. It’s just that I’d really appreciate it if you could spare me a few minutes.’ She breathed deeply and took the plunge. ‘I gather you’re in the SAS. I know it’s something you guys don’t like to talk about, but it’s important to me.’
His response was a guarded nod. ‘Yes.’
‘I’m Jane Reed. I used to be in the Sappers but I’m out now.’
He nodded again. ‘I know.’ His face was still expressionless, his eyes hard. There was no doubt this was the face of a man who had seen and done things that others had not. In a way, she felt a bond with him. She, too, had seen and done her fair share of scary stuff.
‘The thing is, Taffy… can I call you Taffy?’ He nodded yet again so she continued. ‘I was wondering if you knew my friend.’
‘Dave Cooper? Yes, I know him well… I knew him very well.’ His Welsh accent was soft, although his tone was still guarded.
This was sounding promising. ‘That’s good. The thing is, I wanted to ask…’
At that moment Tommy arrived to say he was heading back to the Boar’s Head, and she was on the point of telling him she would come along later when the tall Welshman did it for her.
‘That’s where I’m staying, too. You and I can walk back together if you like, Jane.’
Jane shot him a grateful look and gave Tommy a warm hug, thanking him for looking after her. ‘Give my love to Margie and good luck with the new baby.’
He glanced across at the Welshman and then gave Jane a lurid wink before heading off down the road. After he had gone, she turned to Taffy again.
‘Fancy a nightcap? I think they’re still serving drinks over in the marquee.’
They walked back to the tent and for old time’s sake she ordered two pints of bitter. They sat down at the far end, away from the band, and she held up her glass towards him.
‘Cheers, Taffy. Thanks for sparing the time to talk. Listen, I’d better lay my cards on the table here. I work for David’s mother and I see a lot of him. Over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself getting ever closer to him but I can tell he’s still got serious hang-ups and I feel sure it’s all to do with his final mission, the one in which he was wounded. He’s told me a lot about it but I still can’t get to the root of the problem. I don’t suppose you can shed any light on what happened, can you?’
The Welshman took a long draught of beer and she could almost hear the cogs turning inside his head. She took a sip of her own beer and realised this was probably a mistake after champagne and red wine, so she set it down again and waited for him to respond. It was a full minute before he spoke.
‘We don’t talk about ops.’ There was a longer silence and she was on the point of trying again when he spoke. ‘I heard you won a CGC. Is that true?’
‘Who told you that?’
‘Fergus did. He spoke very highly of you.’
Now it was her turn to nod. ‘Well, it’s true. Nothing spectacular; I used to be in bomb disposal.’
He gave a non-committal grunt but she sensed he must have reached some sort of conclusion. ‘You say you know Dave well and you like him. What did he tell you about that final op?’
‘He went into a fair amount of detail but obviously he couldn’t tell me much, for the same reason I quite understand that you can’t either. Let’s just say I know it was Afghanistan, I know they walked into an ambush and a lot of men died.’
He stared at her impassively for another minute before speaking. ‘Wewalked into an ambush.’ The stress on the pronoun was unmistakable.
‘You were there?’
‘I was there.’
‘Can you tell me what happened? I give you my word it won’t go beyond the two of us.’
He didn’t answer directly. ‘Did he tell you about the guy leading the mission?’ Clearly he was fishing to see just how much information David had felt he could trust her with.
‘He said he was a big guy, larger than life. He called him Major Tom – although he said that wasn’t his real name.’
For a second, a hint of a smile passed over the hard face. ‘We called him a whole lot worse than that. Did Dave tell you what a crazy bastard he was?’
Jane nodded. ‘Completely reckless. Two assaults, even though it was clear you’d walked into a trap. The guy sounds mental.’
‘Did Dave tell you I almost shot him myself?’
